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Biomedical subjects

N D Cook

Publications and source records attributed to N D Cook.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Homotopic callosal inhibition.

Previous theories concerning the function of the corpus callosum have included a "topographic" column-to-column excitatory theory and a diffuse "regional" inhibitory theory. Here it is shown that a topographic inhibitory model, in conjunction with a postulate concerning surround inhibition among cortical columns, produces complementary patterns of cortical column firing which, although qualitatively different, do not imply quantitative metabolic asymmetries. The cognitive implications of such homotopic inhibition are discussed.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1981

[Effects of bilateral mammillary bodies destruction on lever pressing for food reward in the rabbit (author's transl)].

Effects for continuous reinforcement (CRF) learning and differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) learning for food in the rabbit by bilateral mammillary bodies destruction were examined with the Skinner box. There was no marked changes in general behavior, except a tendency to freezing by a sign of somebody and sounds. In CRF learning a delay in the start of bar pressing was thought to be due to a decrease in exploratory behavior and a decrease of the number of bar pressing may be due either to a delay of adaptation to a new environment, or to an impediment of learning by the decrease in rewarding effects. The acquisition of DRL learning was affected, but the retention of that was not. DRL learning has been generally remarked to be chiefly consisted of motivation and temporal discrimination. In our study, however, there was no remarkable changes in motivation itself and temporal discrimination was not affected at all. It was concluded that the impediment of acquisition depended upon a general decrease in cerebral rewarding effects.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Psychosomatic disease and acupuncture.

The medical philosophy implied by a "mind-body unity" hypothesis is outlined and the type of therapy appropriate to the stage of development of disease is discussed; special reference is made to the place of acupuncture within a modern medical program. Starting from the premise that mind is the primary causal force determining neural states, it is concluded that the highest level medical art would be "psychosomatic psychoanalysis." The next highest form of therapy would deal directly with nerve impulses (acupuncture, etc.), followed by drug therapies directed at intra- and extracellular fluid composition, hormone macromolecule manipulation, and finally minor and major surgery.

Acupuncture Therapy↗
PubMed1977

Concept and verbal ability as related to the cerebral hemispheres.

A new theory of human brain function is outlined in terms of the cooperative interaction of the cerebral hemispheres. The well-established verbal, symbolic functions of the left hemisphere and the wholistic, spatial functions of the right hemisphere are seen as separate and independent manifestations of the normally integrated verbal-analytic (or "error detector") and conceptual (or "goal state") functions of the left and right, respectively. The relationship between the hemispheres is described in terms of the "goal-directed" system of cybernetics and then compared with related ideas previously presented by Dimond, Penfield, and Piaget.

Aptitude↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Lateralized lexical decisions and the effects of hemifield masks: a study of interhemispheric inhibition and release.

A lateralized tachistoscope experiment using 40 normal, right-handed men tested the predictions of three different theories of interhemispheric interactions. Lexical decision for function words was measured for each visual field under several conditions of simultaneous stimulation in the contralateral hemifield. When a nonsense word was presented simultaneously to the contralateral hemifield, performance decreased, especially for words in the weaker field, an effect which is inconsistent with the predictions of the direct access model. When the contralateral nonsense word was immediately masked, there was a significant improvement in performance over the nonmasked condition. Analysis of the masking effect showed that the data are inconsistent with a callosal relay model, but are consistent with a model of transcallosal inhibition.

Adult↗